The Republican spin following yesterday's farm bill failure was a sight to behold. Mostly, we focused on the
absurd argument coming from Eric Cantor's office that Democrats should get the blame for Republican House's inability to pass a farm bill that included massive cuts to food stamps.
True. Said that. RT @ChadPergram: Cantor spokesman Rory Cooper on farm bill defeat: Democrats are not able to govern.
— @rorycooper
That was idiotic spin on two levels: First, Republicans actually run the House, and blaming Nancy Pelosi for their ineffectiveness only serves to highlight their incompetence. Moreover, Democrats are eager to accept credit for blocking harsh and unnecessary cuts to food assistance programs.
But the funny thing is, that spin got even more absurd. I missed this yesterday, but about a half-hour after Cantor's office started it's "Democrats can't govern" line of attack, they added this bizarre spin to the mix:
Farm Bill was FAR from perfect. Needed lots of reforms and spending reductions. This vote was to put it on that path to conference.
— @rorycooper
So, according to the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Democrats can't govern because they didn't vote in favor of a bill that Republicans didn't think could, would, or should become law.
To recap their argument:
- Democrats are to blame for the Farm Bill's failure in the House because they didn't deliver enough votes in favor of cutting food stamps to make up for the 62 votes lost by Boehner.
- The Farm Bill kind of sucked and was never going to become law. But even though it sucked, House Democrats should have voted for it in order to get the legislation to conference committee, where Republicans could have pushed for even more spending cuts opposed by Democrats.
The crazy thing is that to these guys, this all makes complete sense. Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi called the GOP's handling of the farm bill "amateur hour." She was being kind.